The two Mistral-class helicopter carriers Sevastopol (L) and Vladivostok are seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire, western France (Reuters/Stephane Mahe) / Reuters

France won’t be able to sell the ill-fated Mistral warships, which were initially built for Russia, without permission from Moscow, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister, said.

Earlier this week, French Le Figaro paper cited an unnamed source
who claimed that Paris was considering either selling the
Mistrals to a third party or, in the extreme case, dismantling or
even sinking them.

Russia and France signed a €1.12 billion contract to build two
Mistral class amphibious ships back in 2011.

Under the deal, Russia was supposed to receive the first of the
two Mistral-class helicopter carriers, the Vladivostok,
in October 2014 and the second, the Sevastopol, in 2015.

But the mood in Paris changed.

In mid-2014, the French side postponed the delivery indefinitely
partly due to pressure from the US and the EU, which have imposed
a set of sanctions against Moscow over its accession of Crimea
and alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

In late April, French President Francois Hollande acknowledged
that Russia should get a refund if it doesn’t receive the Mistral
ships.

A decision on compensating Russia hasn’t yet been legally
formalized, but the French media reported that Paris would return
€800 million and pay €300 million more as compensation for
additional expenses.